One of the best things about Satanism is the real lack of religious day-to-day ritual, prayer, meditation and what not. Every day I can wake up and go about my life and not have to worry about fasting, any daily prayers, or making time for half an hour of meditation. I don’t have to attend a church, listen to a sermon, or go door-to-door saving people’s souls.

Sure, I have the option of doing rituals. If I get annoyed or frustrated I can perform a destruction ritual to let go of those excessive and unwanted feelings. In a way, it is almost therapeutic, but it is never required. It is never pushed on me as something I must do every week, or every day. I can participate in religious ritual if I so choose, and if I think it is going to help me.

However, this open-endedness of Satanism has made me rather…lazy. I can appreciate why many religions require their adherents to pray or meditate once a day- this keeps the religion alive in people’s minds. Going through the motions of a prayer allows your mind to focus on your religion, to reflect on it and its significance in your life. With Satanism, it is up to me to reflect and meditate on the religion, and admittedly I am not the best at self-motivation.

Although it will be a nice break from the other religions this year, I think it is an overall drawback for Satanism not to have this component. Without these requirements, we are left with people who will know little about their religion. I do not think people would be able to fully understand the whole idea of Satanism if they are left, like I am, to my own devices. Only if they are really passionate about the religion would people fully participate in it, unlike the other religions we have practiced which require a certain amount of daily action. If people don’t feel like they need to set aside time to consider their religion, they may end up blindly following the voices of religious authority, or the actions of their congregation, or accepting principles and rules that conflict with genuine common sense. I think that it is probably a mistake to put that much faith in people.

But to be fair, I think it would be good to remember that in all of the religions I have practiced so far this year, the point has not been to follow the rules precisely, to make sure you do all the proper prayers and rituals. The real point is to have the right attitude, to be a good person no matter what the reasoning behind it.